Herodias harbored a grudge against him
and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so.

Mark 6:19

Mark 6:17-29

Reflection

Today is the Passion of John the Baptist. Herod has John arrested and eventually killed. John was protecting the sanctity of marriage by telling Herod it was unlawful for him to marry his brother’s wife, his sister-in-law.

For doing the right thing, John ends up dying. Herodias, the ‘wife,’ holds a deadly grudge against John the Baptist. While the majority of people don’t hold grudges with the intent to kill someone, we do hold grudges that might be unnecessary or unfair, especially when we are in the wrong.

If someone calls us out for a particular sin, a natural reaction can be anger and holding a grudge. Yet we shouldn’t let those emotions control us or our future actions towards that person. God puts people in our lives to correct us, sometimes gently, other times not, so that we can grow in holiness and true repentance of our sins. It is up to us to receive the reprimand humbly and change our actions – how can you improve in this today?

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Saint of the Day

Passion of John the Baptist

The girl hurried back to the king’s presence and made her request, “I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her. So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison. He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. Mark 6:25-29